DeathDefying, Only Actually, Not Really
by midnightluck
Summary: Five times Robin gave his friends a near-heart attack due to his acrobatics, and he had no idea what the heck they were getting so worked up about. Because we all know he's an aerialist, a performer, and also an adrenaline junkie.


__All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners (Cartoon Network). For a prompt on YJ_Anon_Meme.__

__Edited to fix minor typos.  
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><p>At this point, he kinda doesn't notice any more. That may sound a bit silly, but it is true. When he's bored, or when he's sitting still, or any time, really, he just...moves.<p>

A handspring here, a tuck-n-roll there, just a way to bleed off energy, and stay in shape.

He doesn't get why people want to stay upright and on the ground anyways. It's so _boring_.

But the first time he jumps off a building around his new team, Miss Martian tries to catch him.

He knows the roofline, and he knows the fall, and he knows how far he can drop before terminal velocity. It might be a science, but it's second nature to him now.

So he falls, and she swoops in and grabs his arm while he's tumbling head over heels.

"Robin!" she exclaims."What are you—you could have been...!"

"Nah, I couldn't've," he says, and falls right back off the roof she set him on, laughing all the way.

"Robin!" she calls after him, but he's got a line out, and he's swinging, and she finally gets it.

M'gann glides down and follows him. "You sure you can't fly?" she teases, heart still in her throat.

"'Course I can fly!" he laughs. "What'd you call this?"

* * *

><p>The first time Robin uses him as a springboard, Kid Flash does not freak out. At all. Whatsoever.<p>

He knows Robin is behind him, back to his own. He knows that Robin has just finished the last thug on his side, and so logically would turn around.

"Heads up!" Robin calls cheerily, and then there is _a foot_ on his _back_, and okay, he knew his best friend was insane, but really? _Really_?

Robin flips over him and_ holy crap_ what if he _falls_? But he doesn't, instead landing on a goon's shoulders and riding him down to the ground.

"I am _not a springboard!_" he yells in Robin's general direction.

"Yes, you are!" Robin calls back. "And a much better one than these guys, anyways."

Wally doesn't know whether to be flattered, insulted, or pissed off.

He settles for all three.

* * *

><p>He falls on Superboy.<p>

No, really.

Black Canary had lectured them on expecting the unexpected, and how to read your enemy. Apparently, Robin took this as an excuse to practice his ninja skills. On them.

So the next day, when Superboy walks into the gym, Robin just falls from the ceiling where he's lurking, and scares the crap out of the poor boy.

There's a rope around his waist, and he twirls horizontally as he falls, letting it spin out. It runs out about six feet from the floor, and Robin just bounces into Superboy's field of vision like an insane, upside-down jack-in-the-box.

Superboy _screeches_. There's no other word for it.

"Boo!" Robin laughs, then wraps the rope back around his body, and gets the hell out of there.

* * *

><p>Kaldur is more used to living a weightless life than the others, and so he sympathizes with Robin the most.<p>

Still, he can live on land just fine, and he does. Sure, he misses the ocean, but he doesn't _crave_ it. At all. Not even a little. Not a bit. Not at all.

Mostly.

So maybe he does spend time floating in the pool in their mountain; but that's what the pool's for, right? It's even salt water.

But he doesn't let it distract him from the team, and Robin doesn't let his restlessness distract him either.

Kaldur knows, logically, that Robin feels the need to be in the air, to be high, and to fall. He knows this. He _understands_ this.

But the first time Robin uses Batman's folded arm as leverage to climb the man and settle on his shoulders, he almost has a heart attack.

Robin!" he hisses from behind the boy-draped man. "People are _not_ jungle gyms! And that's _Batman_!"

Robin, upside down, gets a grip on Batman's upper arms through the cape, and uses them to slowly fold his legs down and around, so his toes are almost touching the floor. "I know," he says in that slow way people use when stating the obvious. "That's _why_ I'm doing it."

And he flips his body back up, and wraps his legs around, one over a shoulder, one under an arm.

Batman continues talking to Red Tornado, and, despite letting his arms be manhandled into being leverage points, he doesn't seem to notice.

Robin's done some scary stuff in his time, but, Kaldur thinks, this must be his bravest stunt yet.

* * *

><p>Artemis is used to Robin's antics. She's seen him do the impossible and the improbable, and it still secretly thrills her a bit. Because, really, he's <em>amazing<em>.

She's used to flips in Mount Justice. To a certain extent, she's acclimated to acrobatics in Gotham.

But she never expected them at school.

But a few armed idiots stormed the complex, looking to take some rich kids hostage for money and blah, blah, blah. One of them trips himself into unconsciousness in their classroom, and the other three start looking for the richest kids there.

Young Dick Grayson pipes up, obviously trying to be brave, obviously being heroic, obviously scared out of his wits. She clings to the poor boy, pretending to be his witless girlfriend, and so they take her, too.

They're tied up in the gym, and they wait. And wait. Then, finally, they get the radio call that the rest of the kids are out and safe. She checks on her 'boyfriend', and Dick is giving her a _look_. He's not scared, she noted. He's...annoyed?

"I'm bored," one of their captors whines.

"Me too," says another.

"We only have to return the kids alive." The third states. "We never promised anything about no broken bones."

Goon One cuts Dick's ropes, and brandishes the knife at the boy. Dick falls backwards, and hits the ground hard. Goon Two picks Dick up and _tosses him in the air_, which is just all kinds of stupid.

Artemis doesn't stop to question why, just watches the boy with her eyes, hoping, praying, heart in her throat...and it must work, because Dick's body twists and bends, and the fall becomes a handspring becomes a kick to the face.

Damned if she doesn't know that trick.

"Robin," she breathes, watching the playboy son of the playboy billionaire take down goons three times his size.

"Duh," he says. "I'd hate to think you had two dashingly handsome acrobatic superheroes who save you on a constant basis."

She scowls. "Shut up. And cut me free."

He ducks his head to hide his smile. "Yes ma'am!" he says, and does.

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><p><em>"Gymnasts are angels because they are the only humans who can fly."<em>


End file.
